Category: Publishing Your First Book

One of the common problems of any author is experiencing a writer’s block. Almost every person engaged in the field of professional writing can experience this issue. As such, if you happen to encounter this in your life as a writer, the first thing that you must do is to avoid panicking. Keep in mind that it is only typical to lose interest in writing or to struggle in searching for passion, especially if you have problems with your friends or family.

Source: pixabay.comIn this article, allow us to provide you with a list of strategies to follow in case you have this problem. Make sure to familiarize yourself with these tips so that you will not have a hard time to handle it:

Accept The Situation

The first or initial step that you must take is to accept the reality that you have this writer’s block. Stop denying yourself this problem so that you can find better ways to solve it. Keep in mind that the more untruthful you are to yourself, the bigger the issue becomes. It may even reach or come to a point when you are no longer in control of your career. Be sure to inform your publisher or closed friends about it so that they will have an idea about what is going on.

Read A New Book

Sometimes, you need to get inspiration or motivation from other literary writers. Learn from your colleagues in the profession. You can go to the bookstore and randomly select for a title that spiked your curiosity or interest. Cliché as it may sound, but never judge a book by its cover. It is highly recommended to read the synopsis first before purchasing one. At the same time, remind yourself to give a chance to other writers to influence you in any manner possible.

Take A Break

The fact that you have a writer’s block could be your body’s way of telling you that it is time to enjoy or take a rest for a while. All you have to do is to pack up your bags and visit a place that you have always wanted to go for a long time. Do not feel obligated to force yourself into writing a piece of work if part of your heart wants to explore the world or enjoy an adventure. Just because you are taking a break does not mean that you have already given up on what you love. Instead, view it as an opportunity to recharge and get better.

Source: pixabay.comStart A Journal

When you are writing a novel, it is possible that your mind is aiming to impress your potential readers in the future. Because of this, you may find it challenging to complete your work in the fear that others may not like it. You would continue to write not because you love to produce work for the public but because you want to impress an audience. On the contrary, if you would start jotting down your thoughts on a journal, everything would be free-flowing. Do it every day until you get used to it. You may get some ideas for a story plot based on your journal entries.

Exercise Regularly

A writer’s block can also be considered as an indication of a lack of physical activities. As an author, it is possible that you are living a sedentary lifestyle. When was the last time you went to a gym? Can you remember an instance where you dedicated some time to exercise? If you answered in the negative, now is the perfect time to commit yourself into being physically active. A healthy, fit and active lifestyle will not only improve your mood but can also make your brain smarter than ever.

Find Out Your Purpose

When you have nothing to write about or if you have no idea with the words to use for a book, one of the things that you can do is to take a pause. Never force yourself into doing something that you are not ready to complete. Take comfort in making a short recess to decide on what you want to achieve for the next three to six months of your life. By knowing your purpose, you can ignite an inner passion within you. Let that passion guide you into getting things done.

Source: pixabay.com

Conclusion

The life of a writer is a complicated one. There are days when you would not understand yourself or the work that you do. At the same time, some things or events may happen that will make you lose interest in writing. As already mentioned above, never fear this scenario as it is only temporary.

A writer’s block is not meant to prevent you in coming up with new material permanently. All that needs to be completed or done is for you to follow the tips and tricks mentioned above in case such day come. Learn to love what you do and be amazed by how this kind of mindset can transform your career into something more satisfying.

There are too many bloggers in
different networks, that’s why the 2015 Boston
Bloggers Summit ensures that everyone interested in blogging is welcome to
participate in the event. The discussion focuses on bringing forward the most
talented writers in the current generations. The organization wants to become
part of the adaptive community of bloggers and help them maintain their
standards in the growing world of publishing and social platforms.

All About The Summit

The conference primarily
emphasizes the importance of quality over quantity of writing. That’s because
of the determining factors that make an excellent masterpiece. These include
fact-checking, using reliable sources, and double-checking standards on
outstanding creation. The summit wants to work with different platforms as well
to ensure a successful result in a long time writing startups. It wants to
position the writers aligned with the audience so they can sustain an
acquisition from a rapidly changing blogging community. The summit discusses
the use of social media and how it affects blogger’s activation. It also
includes top notched information on how to use the content for business
ventures and creative marketing purposes.

Source: flickr.com

It is true that most writers
carry out tons of workloads and still haven’t received any appreciation. The
summit wants to go deeper into the writing standards that allow bloggers to
become more creative provided that they stay on trend. The contributors to the
conference explain the purpose of every writer’s commitment to their job as
well as their love for the community they are serving.

The summit intends to push more
content publishing and social media interaction. That’s because it believes
that blogging can open up more opportunities in the future. And since people already
know its importance in campaigns, marketing, networking, and social linking,
the future of content creation brings forward advancement – a developed writing
community.

Anxiety is normal and is experienced by all people. The world is filled with stressful jobs, people, events, and situations. It will not stop or wait for you when you get sick or become a victim of your mental or emotional problems.

Unfortunately, there are lots of people who make anxiety their best friend. They bring their anxious selves wherever they go, and they greatly suffer from the negative effects of the disorder. This must be put to an end, but how?

Here are some blogs that could give additional information on anxiety from real people who are combatting their anxiety disorders and issues every single day.

Anxious Lass

This is a blog started by a victim of social anxiety. Kel took years before finding a solution to her unfortunate problems. She began writing articles and posted them on the internet to help people like her who also suffer from social anxiety.

Site – anxiouslass.com

Anxiety Network

This is a blog about anxiety and at the same time, a stress blog. There are different articles written by experts, especially about panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder. The site educates people about the facts of those illnesses.

Source: flickr.com

Site – anxietynetwork.com

Anxiety, Panic & Health

The goal of the Founder of this blog named Michal Nichols is to identify the different types of anxiety disorders and help those people who are experiencing them. There are articles, book reviews, and tools available in this blog that could help those who are plagued with an AD.

Site – anxietypanichealth.com

Anxiety Schmanxiety

This is a blog from a certified national councilor Tanya Peterson. She writes the articles here. It is in her own opinion mixed with professional expertise that she has gained through time. It addresses all types of anxiety disorders.

Site – healthyplace.com/blogs/anxiety-schmanxiety

Anxiety Slayer

There are tools that you can find in this blog that focuses on fighting your anxiety in the most common situations, for example, decreasing the triggers. The content provides techniques on how to cope with different events. The blogs are good and all original material.

Site – anxietyslayer.com

Anxiety United

This blog shares stories from different people who are living with anxiety. They give out articles to read, some references and valuable ideas on handling symptoms of anxiety disorders.

Site – anxietyunited.com

Carl Vernon

Managed by a best-selling author, Carl Vernon, the blog talks about his experiences in dealing with anxiety. He provides different materials that answer the most frequent anxiety questions and advises on how to manage and cope.

Site – carlvernon.com/blog

Diary Of A Social Phobic

The blog’s admin, Gemma, writes about her anxiety problems because she wants to make people with anxiety issues feel that they are not alone. She tackles topics such as cognitive dissonance, which is based on her own experience.

Site – diaryofasocialphobic.wordpress.com

Fiona Likes To Blog

The blogger Fiona gives out various comments on how to take care of yourself when suffering from anxiety. She writes based on her experiences in coping with the mental illness.

Site – fionalikestoblog.com

Let’s Talk Anxiety

This blog focuses on helping people by using evidence-based materials. It also provides tips on how to prevent and recover from anxiety.

Site – letstalkanxiety.com

My Anxiety

The blog contains articles that are based on a patient’s perspective. It focuses on how patients are fighting the mental illness, empowering other patients and their caregivers.

Site – myanxiety.co.uk

Source: maxpixel.net

Relief From Anxiety

The blogger gives information about her dealings with anxiety. She updates every week and aims to provide support to those people who are also managing the mental illness.

Site – reliefromanxiety.blogspot.com

We’re All Mad Here

Its admin, Claire, is considered an expert when it comes to anxiety. She found out after her recovery that clinical approach is sufficient to fight the disorder. Documenting her experiences, she now shares them on her blog for everyone to benefit. Different pieces of advice on dealing with anxiety and other information can be found on this website.

Does it feel like you’re constantly grasping at straws when forming a story that you couldn’t quite assemble or organize the numerous ideas running inside your head? You are not alone. There are writers currently struggling with what to do with all these concepts jumbled up, doing somersaults inside their brains.

Not being able to convey the exact message or thoroughly describe your emotions may lead to frustration and stress. Convoluting as it might seem, while this clutter of ideas make you feel helpless and can cause inability to accomplish something, there are useful ways to improve your perspective thereby affecting the quality of your writing.

The reality is, writing is hard; especially if you plan on taking it seriously. There are no shortcuts, no easy formula to create a manuscript or a simple essay. If you’ve decided that you wanted to publish what you’ve written, that you yearn for people to read and understand your piece, there has to be a sense of perspective. In writing, quality is more important than quantity.

Gathering important facts, logical altercations, and perceptive solutions can be staggering. But there are simple tips to get you out of the puddle.

Tip 1: Define your audience.

Source: Unsplash.com

There are different genres of writing. Not having a defined target audience will leave you distorted. After clearly determining your market, you should ask yourself things like:

What information do they want?

Is there any other additional information that they need to know?

What do they yearn for?

What are they afraid of?

What is current and interesting?

How can you influence or affect them?

Tip 2: Be direct.

Say what needs to be said in the most straightforward manner. Don’t beat around the bush. Be concise. Rambling can cause boredom and disinterest. This can be done by imagining that you are in front of your audience and they are waiting for simplified answers. You wouldn’t be addressing them in terms that only you and Mr. Webster can understand. This confuses the audience and is not a very good way to convey your message.

Source: Pixabay.com

Tip 3: Follow the rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

This cannot be stressed enough – always, always follow the rules that govern proper usage of words, its tenses, and enforced punctuation. People who love to read can easily spot an incorrectly spelled word or a misused article in your literature. More so, the incorrect use of punctuation can send a whole different tone to a particular phrase or sentence.

Grammar, on the other hand, is a writer’s long-time adversary. While there are evolutions in the English language, grammar remains at its core. This is the part where clauses, tenses, synonyms, antonyms, and the like, get blended and screwed. Getting it right would require a rendezvous with your English basics.

Tip 4: Focus on a subject.

Delving into other subjects to lengthen your article complicates the message of your piece. One of the main reasons why your target audience has chosen to devote their precious time to read what you’ve written is because of the main subject. Expanding to subtopics is a good thing and is highly encouraged in writing to put more depth to your literature but it should not divert your attention from your main subject.

Having the opportunity to express freely is one of the reasons why people create their literature. You have all those emotions building inside of you that professing it to the world would be kind of difficult. Emotions are often devastating. It’s so overwhelming that you feel like exploding. One of the ways to deal with all these crushing emotions is by jotting them down.

Writing short stories is not an easy craft to master. You don’t have the luxury of lengthy pages to explain your descriptions, dialogue, and events. Even though writing a short story has similar basics to writing longer fiction, it can definitely be more challenging.

You need to make sure every sentence, every action in each scene, is working towards your end resolution. However, writing a short story is a great exercise for any writer planning to write a novel and is an enjoyable short read on any given day.

Here’s an insight on the steps to writing a short story and the similarities and differences from a novel to make your short story writing easier.

What’s your concept?

To write a short story, you should probably start by having an idea of what you want your story to be and what it does to readers. When looking for a concept, look for inspiration in your surroundings and focus on what you know.

You need to find an idea that readers can relate to and have a message you’re trying to send across to the reader.

Define your timeframe

Don’t try to jam a whole year of events in less than 25 pages. A short story limits you to a specific range of words so limit your time frame accordingly.

By setting a certain timeframe, you focus on working on specific set events without losing focus and letting things get out of hand.

Outline your scenes

Source: writersedit.com

Before jumping into writing, have an outline set for your scenes and a plot in mind. You need to have a clear idea of what is going to happen and how your story will end. Split your events into scenes, each with its own setting and characters to organize your thoughts and writing.

Wisely create your characters

Remember, this is a short story, not a novel so you’re limited to a few characters.You can come up with characters inspired from people you know or people you wish you knew. Most importantly, know your characters, their traits, and flaws and be sure to make them believable – characters your readers can easily relate to.

You can’t write a lengthy paragraph describing your character’s appearance or traits so you need to reflect your character’s personality through the events and the dialogues, which can be tricky.

Once you have your characters set and your protagonist decided, you need to decide on the point of view for your story. The most common narrations for story telling are either a first person narration using “I” or a third person narration using “he or she”.

I would recommend using a first person narration since you’d have a few characters, to avoid having your readers distracted by many points of views.

Use traditional story structure

Now you can start to write your story! Make yourself a cup of coffee, sit down and just write. Write your whole story in one sitting. Just get the story out there without worrying about grammar, punctuation or anything else.

Be sure to use basic structure though. Don’t take up too much time building up the action. Have the main character face a challenge they need to overcome. Reach the climax and then start writing towards the resolution.

Come up with a strong title

Finding the perfect title is vital to your story. Try to come up with an original that is inspired by the story or special phrases you’ve used in your story.

Compelling start and end

The standards for a short story are the same ones that apply to a novel. You need to have a captivating start to get your readers’ attention and have them want to finish your story, as you should also have a strong ending that satisfies your readers. This doesn’t mean it has to be a happy ending, just an ending your readers will accept and understand.

Start with your edits

Now that you have your story written out, it’s time to do some cuts! A short story should not be more than 25 pages with a maximum of 5000 words. A short story of 3500 words is the ideal standard because it is the most marketable, and a quick read at that.

Any dialogue, description or scene that isn’t adding to the story has to go. You have a limit of words to reach and can’t afford unnecessary wordplay. Try using verbs instead of adverbs for a better flow and less wording. Also, come up with smart metaphors that you can use instead of lengthy descriptions of settings or emotions.

Send your story out to the world

Now that you’ve edited and re-edited your story to perfection, it’s time to look into publishing it and start accepting feedback. Start submitting your story in writing contests that usually have online publishing rewards, or send it out to various literary or popular magazines, whether online or paper.

Source: publishin90days.com

You can even just send out your story to friends and family for feedback or upload it on writing platforms like Wattpad, Figment, Scriggler and other websites.

The point is, get your story out there! You worked very hard on it and you deserve to have your worked read and praised. By following these few steps, you will definitely master the craft of short stories!

Writing a book is a wonderful achievement and it’s something that is truly your own. Taking your book to the next level and getting it published can truly be a major step and one that sends authors into a spin. However, while it might seem scary, it’s the next step for writers and it’s the only real way to know if people like what you write. Read on to find a few simple publishing tips that might prove useful for you today.

Have You Had The Book Professionally Proofread?

First and foremost, you need a new set of eyes to go over the manuscript and check for errors. Now, you might think you have looked over it a dozen times and it’s perfect but it’s easy to miss things, especially when you have written it personally. That is why you have to have someone look over the novel that has no interest in it, such as a professional proofreader. These are the ideal people to view the work with a fresh set of eyes and they know what they’re looking for. They can pick up on minor errors in the structure of the book as well as the grammar and spelling errors. This can help ensure your book is published perfectly and avoid negative reviews on the grammar and structure.

You’ve written your book, you’ve proofread it and you’re ready to publish, but what next? Well, you have to think about marketing the book so that people know about the book and want to buy and read it. When a book is marketed correctly it can become a huge hit and it’ll make all the difference. You have to remember, there are thousands and thousands of new books hitting the shelves on a daily basis and yours has to fight for readers. It’s not going to be an easy process but if you think your book has what it takes and you market wisely, anything is possible. Read on to find out how to market your book.

Put the Word Out On Social Media

Social media can be the ideal solution for those who wish to market their book. Now, even if you are using a publisher to handle things, it doesn’t hurt to put the word out there. However, if you aren’t going through a publisher and going for self-publishing, you must do more in order to get the word out. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook can be ideal as you tell followers or friends online about the book which might encourage them to read about it. You can post messages and they might in return re-post them which can get more interested. What’s more, you could create a little trailer for the book and post on media sites such as YouTube. It’s a great way to market effectively.